Panama has the opportunity to become a country that is the base for the development of new businesses leveraged in the digital economy and that promotes technological solutions that can be replicated in other markets, agreed Felipe Echandi, founding CEO of Cuanto and Min Chen, founding CEO of Wisy, platforms forged in the country and that offer tools to digitize business.

Both entrepreneurs participated in the Digital Economies discussion organized by Financial Tuesday of La Prensa newspaper and sponsored by Credicorp Bank.

Echandi states that there are special benefits that the country has, to be a base for the emergence of new platforms of the digital economy. Panama can re-found itself as a digital nation, as Estonia did with a digital economy that can be sold and offered to the rest of the world.

Min Chen said that the country has the opportunity to reinvent itself and strengthen education, innovation and technology issues. So that we are a country based on education, science and technology and we can define the new post-covid-19 world standards.

Chen commented that one of the opportunities the pandemic has left is that it is time to buy and sell local products and adapt these technologies to the country and local entrepreneurs. It is important for companies, when they decide to mount technology, to do so with tools that are adjusted to the reality of the market.

One of the challenges he mentions is that many users do not have traditional payment systems such as credit cards, so these payment platforms must be created with social networks as a driving vehicle.

Echandi argues that one of the challenges we have is to simplify the digitization of small and medium-sized businesses by giving tools that are easily accessible. What we have done in terms of reducing the barrier of entry for companies to that digital ecosystem, to have a website to sell more agilely, he said, indicating that they only need to download the Cuanto application and follow the steps. to democratize access to online commerce.

Felipe Echandi indicated that vegetable producers from Bugaba, Chiriqui have entered the technological platform of Cuanto to place and sell their products, as well as coffee and other products. Agricultural producers who are an essential part of the supply chain are digitizing and using technology platforms and social networks to sell.

Min Chen, CEO of Wisy gave as an example that many companies that were used to wholesale, must now adjust their processes and their dispatch orders to sell at retail, and it is there that Wisy manages technological solutions to facilitate such management dynamic and efficient inventory and ordering.

The health crisis caused by Covid-19 opened the door to a digital revolution that, although it had been transforming business, had accelerated in the last 4 months. Min Chen and Felipe Echandi both created in Panama technological solutions and proposals that provide answers to small, medium and large businesses and open the door for new entrepreneurs to use the tools of the future.